# Are there any words that have come to mean the exact opposite of their original meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624 "2010-06-26T21:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/21 "2010-06-26T22:31:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I wish people would stop saying this. The opposite meaning would be figuratively, and you cannot replace the usage with that word. The meaning of the word is the use of emphasis, just like “really” before it. Do you argue that “really” means the opposite of “in a real manner”? If some one says ‘I literally jumped a mile’ but they really mean ‘I figuratively jumped a mile’ it doesn’t work? ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/22 "2010-06-26T22:39:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thre’s always flammable / inflammable. > > The linguistically correct term for something which catches fire easily is inflammable. But too many Troo Bloo 'Merkins though that meant non-catch-on-fire-able, which is of course opposite to the real meaning. > > So the nice safety folks invented the bastard word flammable to mean the same as what inflammable really means and the opposite of what the general foolish populace thinks inflammable means. Inflammable means flammable?! What a country! ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/23 "2010-06-26T22:40:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thre’s always flammable / inflammable. > > The linguistically correct term for something which catches fire easily is inflammable. But too many Troo Bloo 'Merkins though that meant non-catch-on-fire-able, which is of course opposite to the real meaning. > > So the nice safety folks invented the bastard word flammable to mean the same as what inflammable really means and the opposite of what the general foolish populace thinks inflammable means. Damn! Beat me to it, and explained it better than I would have. _tips hat_ Nicely done. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/24 "2010-06-26T22:43:02Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > So what if you couldn’t replace the usage with that word? You could, it would just sound awkward, but it would be accurate at least. I don’t know how your objection means it’s somehow correct to use exactly the wrong word in that situation. > > If someone says “it took literally forever for me to get out of that traffic jam”, how could the term literally possibly be correct there? This is exactly the sort of thing that the OP is looking for as far as I know. Your example is different though—the word’s usage is just _wrong_. Perhaps the usage is evolving to the point where it will soon have completely flipped meaning, but it still retains its original meaning for most people. You still frequently hear things like, “I laughed so hard that I peed my pants! Well, not literally.” The person in your example is simply an idiot. 🙂 (Sadly, given enough time, idiots make usage…) My favorite flip: Fast. It used to mean immovable. Now it means to move at great speed. “Hold fast!” is the last vestige of it, but it’s kind of only used anchronistically; “fasten” or “fastener”, though, still survive with original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/25 "2010-06-26T22:46:26Z")
> [@Anachronism](#): > > If some one says ‘I literally jumped a mile’ but they really mean ‘I figuratively jumped a mile’ it doesn’t work? They don’t, though - they mean, “I jumped a fucking mile”. While that is a figurative use, they’re not using the word ‘literally’ because they want everyone to know that they’re speaking figuratively. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/26 "2010-06-26T22:46:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thre’s always flammable / inflammable. > > The linguistically correct term for something which catches fire easily is inflammable. But too many Troo Bloo 'Merkins though that meant non-catch-on-fire-able, which is of course opposite to the real meaning. > > So the nice safety folks invented the bastard word flammable to mean the same as what inflammable really means and the opposite of what the general foolish populace thinks inflammable means. What we really need is an UN-flammable. That would make the distinction clearer. (“Uninflammable” doesn’t really sound right… but then, I can imagine “Uninflatable” existing, so maybe it’s got promise.) ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/27 "2010-06-26T22:48:09Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Most words’ meanings change over time but can you think of any that have done a complete 180 and evolved to mean just the opposite of what they first (or once) meant? Just running with the notion of “a complete 180”, how about _revolution_? It’s a complicated story, but one rather well mapped out. In classical and medieval times, it was essentially a technical term in astronomy meaning a rotation through 360 degrees. Hence Copernicus’s _De Revolutionibus_. Then, in England in the 17th century, the term gets attached to major political events. But part of that sense is that the likes of the Glorious Revolution are events _returning_ the polity to a previously existing state. But the fact that such events are also seen as unprecidented eventually bleeds into the sense that a “revolution” is an _overturning_ of the prevailing state of affairs. The 360 degrees rotation sense becomes a 180 degrees upheaval one. By the 20th century, the overturning/upheaval/“complete 180” meaning had become the default, with no implication of anything returning to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/28 "2010-06-26T22:55:57Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > They don’t, though - they mean, “I jumped a fucking mile”. While that is a figurative use, they’re not using the word ‘literally’ because they want everyone to know that they’re speaking figuratively. 😕 I have heard literally 😃 tons of people use the word literally when they are speaking figuratively. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/29 "2010-06-26T22:59:15Z")
They’re not using it to MEAN figuratively, though. They’re using it WRONG, but as a simple intensifier, not to mean the opposite of what it really means. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/30 "2010-06-26T23:00:58Z")
To say “literally” when they mean exactly the opposite of literally, ie it didn’t really happen they’re just saying it that way to make a point, then it is the opposite. It’s such a common error that some commie traitor dictionaries are including that usage, so I think it falls under the OP’s reequest. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/31 "2010-06-26T23:04:17Z")
Moot. It used to mean something worth arguing about. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/32 "2010-06-26T23:11:13Z")
Still does. In most law schools, students do moots - that is, a learning exercise of arguing a debatable point of law. The profs who set the moot always choose a topic that is not clear cut, to give both sides something to advance in their favour, while responding to the arguments advanced by the other side. “Moot” has another meaning, of course - that because of a more recent development, the point raised by litigation need not be decided, as the case has become moot. However, that does not necessarily mean the point in issue has been settled, but rather, that because of a factual development, or a related development in the law, the court declines to deal with that particular case. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/33 "2010-06-26T23:17:29Z")
[Nonplussed](http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/nonplussed?view=uk) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/34 "2010-06-26T23:23:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thre’s always flammable / inflammable. > > The linguistically correct term for something which catches fire easily is inflammable. But too many Troo Bloo 'Merkins though that meant non-catch-on-fire-able, which is of course opposite to the real meaning. > > So the nice safety folks invented the bastard word flammable to mean the same as what inflammable really means and the opposite of what the general foolish populace thinks inflammable means. The word “flammable” goes back to 1805-1815 or so. I don’t think it was created by “safety folks.” I can’t figure out if it was of American origin, the US was an incredibly new country at the time, although it is true that it really took off there. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/35 "2010-06-26T23:31:39Z")
The original meaning of “bemused” was “confused”. Now, presumably because it sounds so similar, many people use it to mean “amused”. Not exactly the opposite, but quite a difference. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/36 "2010-06-26T23:56:57Z")
The classic example is the story (probably apocryphal) that, when she saw Christopher Wren’s rebuilt version of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Queen Anne said it as “awful, artificial, and amusing.” The words were all meant as complements – “awe-inspiring,” “artistic,” and “riveting.” ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/37 "2010-06-26T23:57:13Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > What we really need is an UN-flammable. That would make the distinction clearer. (“Uninflammable” doesn’t really sound right… but then, I can imagine “Uninflatable” existing, so maybe it’s got promise.) We have it in a way, but it’s NON-flammable. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/38 "2010-06-27T00:16:16Z")
The bomb: I remember this one as it happened ~1988. In verb, infinitive, or gerund form, it means something bad or getting bad. Suddenly, the noun form meant the best or something very good, e.g. The blueberry pie is the bomb. Diva: used to mean an expert singer, now it means a spoiled brat. becoming a tenor: literally means to go to Juliard or something and studying how to sing, but now it means to get hit in the testicles or get your testicles cut off. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/39 "2010-06-27T00:20:55Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > We have it in a way, but it’s NON-flammable. Good one. I don’t hear/see it often enough for it to come to the top of my mind. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/40 "2010-06-27T00:23:00Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > The original meaning of “bemused” was “confused”. Now, presumably because it sounds so similar, many people use it to mean “amused”. Not exactly the opposite, but quite a difference. Maybe the language is evolving to a gradation of “-musement”: Amusement = quite funny Bemusement = sort of funny Cemusement = only of average funniness Demusement = not especially funny Efmusement = unfunny [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624.md?page=3)